Recruiting continues.

 A second group of Mark's Little Soldiers arrived a few weeks back. I took advantage of the deal and got the President figure. 

For this group I chose to use the Army Painter spray primers. Wolf Grey and Goblin Green. This helped the painting speed although care needs to be taken with flesh as the base color shows through but this is easily fixed. The colored primer does help save time. I gave the figures two coats but need to touch up a few of the folds. They pretty much eliminated the time spent on two coats, which I found never really covered well, touch ups are still need but are part of the regular process anyway. I still have a bit of a problem with the varnish pooling and remaining whiteish but should be able to overcome that with a little practice. 

Berglander Squad

More troops on the workbench.

Wave three is available to order but I hope to get a few more figures done before I order.

Generals and Officer.

Mark's Little Soldiers or...

 number six of "no new projects" .

I had heard rumors of this several years ago but nothing was done and then the flood gates opened.

Little Soldiers

As usual the temptation to jump in was tempered by the desire to reduce the lead pile. After several visit to Mark's Instagram page resistance was futile. I ordered a few packs, not the full first wave so missed out on the "Boy Detective" figure but enough to get a feel for the figures and see if it was something I was willing to commit to. It was. I painted up a few figures and am happy with the result. The casting clean with enough detail to look like historical figures but not so much to limit what they are or keep them from being used for imagination projects. All the goals Mr. Copplestone stated he wanted were achieved.

The 1st group, Panovians.

These figures I had primed white and then painted for the next group I will spray the main uniform color and go from there. It took 2-3 coats to get good coverage.

Now I'm all in on this project and hope to get a game in by the end of the year. 

further links

http://nstarmagazine.com/marks_little_soldiers_1.htm

http://nstarmagazine.com/marks_little_soldiers_2.htm

https://www.instagram.com/marks_little_soldiers/

https://www.copplestonecastings.co.uk/list.php?cat=23&page=1

http://recreationalconflict.lusagi.com/copplestonecastings/Mark'sLittleSoldiers/littlesoldiersm.html

China Marines

 Another game of OHSW. This time I did the Zulu War scenario from the book. I switched the Zulus for Boxers and the British for US Marines. There's no set turn limit in this scenario. The Boxers win by getting into the redoubt and knocking down all the Marines. The Marines win by holding out until reinforcements arrive. 

The Boxers advance.

The Marines wait to fire.

The Boxers attack in piecemeal.

Concentrated fire takes it toll.

The Boxers continue to press the attack.

Per the scenario the Marines have gain enough points for the reinforcements to arrive.

The game lasted about five turns, just under an hour. Turns went quickly as the Marines burnt through cards while firing and the Boxers never pulled a high enough card to move a large group of troops. 

In previous games I had played that a figure could move once and fire on 1 action point. After questioning the FB group and getting a clarification in  this game I played 1 action point for each. I had also wondered whether or not when a figure can draw 2 cards to resolve an action if the acting figures wins on the first draw is the second draw necessary. The responses varied with the author saying he drew both cards but I have decided to go with not drawing the second card. It affects the probability of a Joker turning over sooner and burning up potentially higher value cards.   

This has been a great way to get in a few quick games while waiting for our normal group of gamers to be able to get back together.

 

Loot.

Went to the Toy Soldier show down in New Jersey today. Howard is on the mailing list which is good because finding out about it is difficult as there's not any online presence. It's a nice show about 20 vendors packed in a small area. As with most of these shows going is sort of a bit of nostalgia, drooling over the St. Petersburg collection and treasure hunting. Todays show hit all the areas. There were plenty of plastic figures from the past, superbly painted flats, and things I didn't know I needed.

So what did I get?

Britan's B range Scots Greys?

Comparison shot

Kubelwagon, Warlord Sherman, Solido Panzer

out of sequence today's loot 

Black Tree germans for scale. the tanks a little big for me but painted and assembled trumps that minor quibble.

So a successful day. I hadn't planned on getting anything but decided it would be good to have some original toy soldiers and now I have some vehicles for my yet to be completed 28mm WWII Germans. Here's the info I saw on the Hobby Bunker site for the show.

New Jersey Toy Soldier, Military Miniature and Figure Show--

The Hilton Hotel, 650 Terrace Ave, Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604

Sunday 9am-3pm. March 11* *New Date

Admission:  $6, Children 10 and under FREE with paid Adult